We haven’t seen much willingness or ability to pivot. But then again, we could have done a more effective job of advocating / submitting for this issue. Doing that well takes significant time and energy investment.
What public forum?
A lot of well-intentioned noncyclists seem to assume that cycling is primarily recreational, and so they think cyclists always want scenic, rambling, car-free routes.
As a transportation cyclist, I simply want safe routes that get people to the places they need to go: workplaces, shops, schools, doctors’ offices. Regarding Albany Street: if I’m coming from the harbour, I do not want to meander along the Leith to get to the central city. For women in particular, personal safety is also an issue. If I’m cycling home at night from an event in town, I want to ride on well-lit, well-traveled routes, not bushy paths or back streets.
In many urban settings, bike paths away from main thoroughfares are not viable solutions. There are other options. The most important thing elected officials can do is support well-designed proposals by qualified urban planners.
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Aē, I always try to emphasis ‘commuter cyclists’ as otherwise cycling gets written off as a luxury hobby, not as an essential transportation and access need.
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This. Couldn’t have put it better.
I go to the same places I do when I take the car - supermarket, George street and the hospital.
We need a joined up network of main routes that cover the same routes people take when driving and should be as, if not more direct to make cycling the most convenient and therefore obvious options for short trips.
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Yes, but not just commuters (which implies people in regular paid employment)–just lots of ordinary people of all ages and cycling abilities who would like to do ordinary things on their bikes without having their lives threatened: go to work, school, restaurants, the park, appointments, social events, and family obligations.
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Thanks for all the feedback !
I clearly have a lot to learn 
Kā mihi nui | Thanks very much
100%, I’ve just found that using the term commuters has had better success in being taken seriously as that emphasis of ‘must get to work/school’ is something car people tend to respect more than anything else, just from personal experience.
I totally agree with Fraser here. Spokes is a membership organisation and will have members with a wide range of views. Different type of riders and different views on our bike infrastructure.
They are there to communicate that to council and in my opinion we should leave it up to council to decide how things are being build as they have the experts in house eg. urban designers and urban planners. We’re should give feedback on whether routes actually work for cyclists, but they’re the ones with the technical know-how in terms of urban design.
Would love to see more ways on how Spokes gathers feedback from members and then communicate this to council. P.S. More members, means a more diverse biking community and if you want to have your say, become a member! 
And I agree here with Evelyn, how we frame things can make a huge difference like “safe streets” instead of “bike lanes” as they also provide safe spaces for people on scooters, and if wide enough can be used by wheelchairs and even ambulances. When I worked at Locky Dock we always used the word “biker” or “people on bikes” instead of saying cyclist. People tend to think an older, white male when you say cyclist. They dont tend to think of kids, women or more vulnerable commuters when you talk about a cyclist. Language matters!
Here is some more info about that: https://www.sightline.org/2015/03/31/smarter-street-talk/
I so relate to this!! 
As women we tend to take the safest route, I’m so happy with George Street which gives me a quiet route to bike, but currently albany street is too unsafe for me. And in my personal opinion, we cant turn Albany Street into a quiet street, unless you reduce the width of that road massively, but again I’m not the expert here, I can only speak from my personal experience and leave it up to the experts to decide.
Also Albany Street, would make way more sense to me. I live in Cargill Street, so a route along the Leith, wouldnt work for me. I would have to cross two motorways to get there. Albany Street is great, as I can simply use it by riding along George Street (would love to see the knox part of george street made a bit safer for people on bikes too), but it would mean a relatively safe ride to the university where I often have meetings. It also means I have a safe connection to the harbour cycleway and I can avoid crossing lower stuart street which is car heavy aswell and not the safest route.
And I get this, but even a route along the Leith would spark backlash, people love their cars and changing their street or neighbourhood is very scary for a lot of people. They don’t know it will affect their business or the value of their homes.
I’m a big supporter of pop-up bike lanes (but this need to be done correctly and we need to listen to the experts for this) where we can try out stuff. This will help businesses and the public to see bike lanes have a positive effect on their neighbourhood/street.
And finally, I would love to see us championing a great city with transport choices and safe streets, because we are falling behind Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch when it comes to bike infrastructure. George Street is a great arterial that is safe for bikes, but its important to create a bike network.
Lastly a photo of a great bike lane in Auckland, and as I said this bike lane and many others took a long time to build as every bike lane encounters protest. But once its there, people love it. Just like George Street. 
And how wonderful would bit be to see more kids cycling in Dunedin?
Source: https://www.bikeauckland.org.nz/smiles-ian-mckinnon-drive-cycleway-opening/
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I think the Portobello Road-Royal Cres shared path should be our gold standard, that auckland cyclelane has too many red flags especially in the Dunedin context, the same breed of concrete blocks that have been so dangerous for cyclists (especially at night in heavy rain when they become invisible and this example appears to have less lighting), and made motorists so angry along SH1, a barrier from the footpath giving cyclists safe route off the road.
I do not think we need to look to Auckland, in Te Aka Ōtākou and the Portobello Road-Royal Cres shared paths and cyclelanes we already have better examples of safe streets in practice.
As for Albany St not being able to be a quiet st. There are too few links between SH1 and SH88 so all those streets have too much pressure and traffic. The ‘Love Your Leith’ shared path proposal could be a safe route, or the old (in my mind awful and unsafe) cycle lane up union st, turns onto leith st, turns onto brook then duke then along to NEV, could be brought up to standard in a revival? or bypassed with a cycle connection through the university up the union st gap to connect to the SH1 cycelane?
Not as alternatives to Albany St, but in connection, we need a safe Albany st connection, but that doesn’t mean we don’t also a quiet Union St. connection, and given the amount of LPHS, Polytech and University students who still use the old Leith-Union st route, we need that upgraded and made safe too, especially to give cyclists heading to or from NEV an alternative to the SH1 lanes.
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That path illustrates the biggest problem with Dunedin’s cycleways: it’s not part of a network, just a pleasant bit of path that dumps users into inconvenient and dangerous situations at both ends.
The forum is tomorrow, tuesday morning in the art gallery at 9 am
Tena koe Jess - as always you share great ideas and information. I see a young dad with a goose and a young child biking along Portsmouth Drive (direction peninsula) and then having to cross at the map to get to Portobello Road - totally agree with Evelyn that this and Royal Crescent are almost well connected (Musselburgh Rise crossing has been criticised) bike paths for people to take and can always be used as positive examples. Connectivity is a huge issue and I have just spoken with a German professor in sustainable planning who is coming to Ōtepoti early November, looked at our cycle infrastructure and that was her first comment - how disconnected it is.
If we could pick one or two and use Jess’s idea of a popping up a decent connection to raise awareness I think we could have an impact.
Regarding Albany Street - hopefully the motion goes through tomorrow and it can be an example that the DCC can role model a solution based approach here and listens to all members of the community and not just the businesses of the area.
In support of Albany Street - let’s organise a critical mass ride in Albany Street to show how important this street is for connecting George Street and Anzac Avenue. Watch the space!
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Ah, just missed it then!!! Hope it goes well.
Sounds like fun - lets do it!
Connectivity is important and it needs to be connected to the city network, but that doesn’t nullify it’s safe design and layout. Or it’s specific function, it is one of the most used cyclelanes as it has a single specific purpose which is to get Bayfield students cycling to Bayfield. While it’s still not perfect on that front (Shore st stretch needs worked on), it should be seen in that context and as a success in that context.
It’s design is exemplar, that it isn’t well connected to the wider cycle network is a different issue.
(I don’t know how to add a second reply quote in to post like NathanK has done above)
@heike
How did the Forum go? Is Albany St won?
Well, looks we’ve flipped back the other way by the narrowest of margins:
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And it goes on:
Of note, we’ve got this mention of @heike in there:
Spokes Dunedin spokeswoman and candidate Heike Cebulla-Elder said the group was pleased the council was moving forward on the project.
The alternative of taking a cycleway along the Leith (which we have been going on about for a while) is in the ODT, led by @steve:
And a followup today:
I don’t know.
Personally I’d rather Albany St was a shared street: with measures put in place to stop it being a rat-run the traffic should be low and slow. No need for the dedicated cycleway and if paved for pedestrians, not cars, it would be a great space. Cycle along it in the middle of the day and look at how many students are on the pavements. We have to get away from the ingrained notion that 80% of city street space needs to be given over to a few drivers.
While more pleasant, I’m not sure the leith route is more direct for most people. But maybe if cycling was taken out of the equation, something good could happen to Albany Street. And maybe by having bikes closer to the uni the policies could change and better connections through the university could flourish.
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I totally with you on this. I have written letters to the odt about this, and included comments in my submission. In the Netherlands, they would never put a cycleway on a minor street like that. They have moved on.
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I’m a BIG fan of creating a shared path along the Leith. LOVE the idea of overhauling this waterway - adding trees, planting and lighting. Could be an excellent collaborative project for three major players in our city - the DCC, the ORC and the University. Creates a space for commuters, family adventures and students.